Secondary Task # 1:
Living a Baptized Life
Living in Vital Union with Christ
Part 5 The Secondary Mandate –
Baptize the Nations
• Session 5.22 Secondary Task # 1:
Living a Baptized Life - Living in Vital
Union with Christ
• Session 5.23 Secondary Task #1:
Living a Baptized Life - The Word
Becomes Flesh
The Text
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the
very end of the age.”
Matthew 28: 18-20
The Tasks
• One Primary Task – Make disciples of all
nations!
• Two Subordinating Tasks:
– Baptizing them
– Teaching them
Outline
• Baptizing Them
– The Nature of Baptism
– The Object of Baptism
• In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
– Overwhelmed by God
– What’s in a name!
– The place of the name
– The Trinitarian name
• Putting them together
Baptism of Christ
The Nature of Baptism
Baptize
• baptizo
– 1 to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge
(of vessels sunk).
– 2 to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to
wash, to make clean with water, to wash one’s
self, bathe.
– 3 to overwhelm
• NOT bapto
– 1 to dip, dip in, immerse.
– 2 to dip into dye, to dye, color.
Baptizing Pickles
Three Understandings of Baptism
• The first ordinance of the church –
Initiation into the church
• Symbolizes the believer’s:
– Identifying with Christ (Romans 6: 3-5)
– Being purified by water from sin (Acts 22: 16;
Heb. 10: 22)
• Reflects the vital relationship between
Christ and the believer (John 15: 5)
Threefold Design of Believer’s
Baptism
• The element of water represents
purification from sin.
• The action symbolizes the death/burial
and resurrection.
• The ceremony is a public pledge of
allegiance to Christ and his kingdom.
Baptism
The Object of Baptism
Baptizing What?
• Questions:
– What is the object of the baptism?
– How do you baptize a nation?
The Suffering Servant
• Read Isaiah 52: 7-10,13-15
• Questions:
– To whom is this prophetic passage referring?
– What will happen to the nations?
• “See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised
and lifted up and highly exalted. … so will he
sprinkle many nations, ….”
• This seems to be a prophetic announcement of
the commission to baptize the nations.
Our Focus
• The third understanding of baptism: the
vital relationship with Christ
• The object of baptism - nations
In the Name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit
What’s in a name?
Name
• onoma – name or person
• Derived from oninemi
– 1 to be useful, to profit, help.
– 2 to receive profit or advantage, be helped
[or have joy].
• The name helps us to know the thing.
God’s Self-Revelation
• Read
– Set # 1: Exodus 3: 13-14; Rev. 22: 13
– Set # 2: Isaiah 9: 6; 44: 6
– Set # 3: Isaiah 6: 3; Matt. 6: 9
• Question: What do these names reveal
about God?
The Place of the Name
The Place of the Name
• Read:
– Set # 1: Exodus 25: 8; 29: 42-46; 40: 33-34
– Set # 2 : 2 Sam. 7: 13; 1 Kings 8: 19; 2 Chron.
6: 7-9
• Questions:
– Where does God intend to dwell?
– How will God’s dwelling place be identified?
The Place of the Name
• Read Deut. 12: 1-7
• Questions:
– What are the people to do when they
enter the promised land?
– Why are they to do this?
The Place of the Name
2 Destroy completely all the places on the high
mountains and on the hills and under every
spreading tree where the nations you are
dispossessing worship their gods. 3 Break down
their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn
their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols
of their gods and wipe out their names from
those places.
4 You must not worship the Lord your God in their
way. 5 But you are to seek the place the Lord
your God will choose from among all your tribes
to put his Name there for his dwelling.
Deut. 12: 2-5
The Trinitarian Name
The Name
• Note, the name, not the names
• ONE name – one God
• But three persons:
– Father – Creator
– Son – Redeemer
– Holy Spirit – Sanctifier
• The tri-unity God
To be baptized “in the name of” is
to be brought into a vital
relationship with the one named.
The Vital Relationship
Our Vital Relationship
• Read:
– John 14: 19-21
– John 15: 1-8
– John 17: 21-23
• Questions:
– What do they reveal about our vital
relationship?
– What is the result of the vital relationship?
The Vital Relationship